


Saulites

by lukeloops



Series: Kuroshitsuji standalones [1]
Category: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Genre: Discussion of death and suicide so read at your own risk, Friendship, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 11:06:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5203475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukeloops/pseuds/lukeloops
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a hard day at work, Ronald goes to William's office for a chat. Not that he's expecting any sympathy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saulites

“Come in.”

Ronald tentatively pushes open the door that bears the nameplate of ‘William T Spears’. The reaper himself is sitting behind his desk in front of a ridiculously large ledger book. “Knox?” He doesn’t look up. “How can I help you?”

Ronald swallows before speaking. “Sir, I um… The doctor who had the heart attack this morning, I…” He licks his lips and the words tumble out. “Did I do the right thing by reaping ‘im even though he was on the edge of a breakthrough?”

His superior is looking at him over the top of his spectacles, and Ronald starts to anticipate a lecture about protocol and not getting emotionally involved.  
Instead, William takes off his glasses and says, “Sit down.”

Ronald awkwardly perches himself in the chair facing William, waiting for him to speak. It takes a minute, the supervisor rubbing his eyes before replacing his spectacles and fixing the younger reaper with a piercing stare.  
“Sooner or later, all shinigami find themselves having to make a very difficult decision. The question is not whether the human deserves to live, it is whether we, as reapers, have the right to decide.”

"There are exceptions though, right boss? We can let someone live if they prove to be a benefit to humanity.”

“Indeed.” William nods. “That detail is in the constitution. However, for the most part it is a formality. We do what we’re told to do.” His monotonous voice is at odds with his expression; usually so blank, he seems almost sympathetic.

“And that’s what I done.” Ronald fidgets uncomfortably. “I reaped ‘is soul and filled out the paperwork. But… I could have left ‘im alive. At least until ‘is research got published. It coulda put an end to diphtheria.”

William closes his chartreuse eyes, a gloved hand going to his forehead. “A decision no reaper is truly qualified to make.” He murmurs. “We are not Gods, we are merely the servants of Death.”

“So like…” Ronald is a bit thrown off by seeing the elder reaper showing emotion. “You’ve been through it too? Wondering if you’ve, you know, made the right choices?”

“Yes.” William settles himself back in his chair, reaching into his pocket for his comb and fixing his already immaculate hair out of habit. “As a matter of fact, about three years ago I dealt with the most ethically complex collection of my career, one which made me decide to pursue a desk job.”

Ronald is trying not to gawp as he waits for William to tell the story.  
“Boss?” he hesitantly prompts. “What happened, like?”

William finishes combing his hair. “Has it ever occurred to you that we never harvest children, Knox?”

“No, actually.” Ronald shakes his head, realizing that it’s true.

“That’s because child souls go straight to heaven, dealt with by another department entirely. This particular human was only seventeen years of age, not usually long enough for a soul to become impure. But the young man was a Saulite.”

“Ah.” ‘Saulite’- slang used among reapers to mean a human that has committed suicide. Ronald doesn’t really know much beyond this, apart from the fact that the human’s cinematic records are destroyed and their soul goes into storage in some kind of limbo state until re-incarnation.

“I watched the rope tighten round his neck until he stopped breathing, and knew that I was supposed to collect him as per protocol to be reborn as a fledgling shinigami. But his cinematic records were otherwise unblemished, and so I could try and submit him to heaven, even though it would mean a month’s overtime filling out application forms. He was basically a child after all.”

William’s eyes are clouded over with the fog of memory. Ronald finds himself holding his breath, studying his senpai as though looking through a new pair of glasses for the first time. None of them have any memories of being human of course, but all of them once were, and all of them can feel human emotion, even Spears.  
“What did you do?” he whispers finally.

“That’s confidential.” William seems to snap back into his usual self. “As are the rest of the details. Go home Knox, I want you back here at nine sharp tomorrow without these ideas of doubt getting in the way of your duty.”

“Yes sir!” He scrambles to his feet. “And… cheers. For, y’know.”  
The other says nothing else, so Ronald slips out of the office, closing the door behind him. The spring has started to return to his step, mostly due to the prospect of getting home and indulging in a box set of 21st century TV that he’s managed to get his hands on. Having the occasional chance to travel in time is definitely one of the perks of the job; down in the human world they’ve only just started to transmit morse code.

 

Inside his office with the door closed, William reaches for his staff file, pulling out one particular identification sheet.

  
_Ronald Knox. Died 13 th November 1880 of asphyxiation resulting from deliberate hanging, aged seventeen. Reaped by William T. Spears. All cinematic records successfully destroyed. Reincarnated and qualified as Collections personnel in 1883.  
No other comments._


End file.
